Verse & Point
by supposed rockstar
Summary: Sometimes clarity is as close as the words of a song. [Tommy & Jude] [borderline T»M]
1. Hands Clean

Welcome to the land of One Shot. Since I've had an Alanis play list on repeat since God said, "Let there be light!" I thought it only appropriate that I write this. It screams "Tommy & Jude". I hope you enjoy.

PS: There are no names mentioned. That's my normal writing style and we all know who it's about.

Disclaimer: If I owned IS in any damn way, do you think I'd be writing this? I'd be bumping up Season 2 air dates and posting spoilers for everyone.

* * *

_**Hands Clean**_

They sat in his car, his baby, his everything, driving to the middle of nowhere. Somewhere, a song murmured in the background, weaving in and out of their misguided, thought-filled reveries. It was a song of emptiness and everything, possessing such a clear message of truth for the both of them.

_If it weren't for your maturity none of this would have happened.  
If you weren't so wise beyond your years I would've been able to control myself._

He steered the car effortlessly, careening around curves going what felt like the slowest 80 km/h of his life. The asphalt transformed into fain traces of yellow paint, the scenery a Gaussian blur of its former self. He pressed the gas pedal to the proverbial metal and dared the road to let go.

_If it weren't for my attention you wouldn't have been successful._

She mentally wrote a new song, laying out chords and arrangements and picking out china patterns. Her Converse tapped against the upholstered floor boards, remembering past, present, and future events that would never mean nothing. She blinked against the wind, quieting the stinging in her eyes that drove her mad.

_If it weren't for me you would never have amounted to very much.  
This could be messy, but you don't seem to mind. Don't go telling everybody._

He thought of chores and duties he needed to attend to; people to call, a girl to love, and the book to write. His hand ran thru his hair involuntarily. The predicament was a simple case of "right time, wrong age" and it played the most gruesome game of chess in his mind – calculated and undermining. He fought only himself, every day giving in more and more until he finally dove right into an ocean he couldn't swim in.

_And overlook this supposed crime._

She took in air freely, her body one with the genuine leather racing seat cradling her like space-age memory foam. She couldn't shake the intrinsic need to scream at the world, to tell everyone to fuck off. It was a simple task of getting on her soapbox, singing her thoughts in a heartfelt melody, and realizing everyone thought it was about some kid who didn't know her from Adam. The confusion was the worst and they played the role too well.

_We'll fast forward to a few years later and no one knows except the both of us._

What was their future? What was to become of the twosome once someone said, "Hey! That's enough, now!" Who would step up and say something? Who would tell the judge and jury their case?

_And I have honored your request for silence._

_It never happened. _Hell yes it did. It happened, will happen, and be damned if it didn't happen over and over again. It made sense, it meant the world, and there were no amount of words that could erase a canvas so brightly bleak.

_And you've washed your hands clean of this._

Forgetting the nagging thoughts and perplexed stares would just be too easy for such a pair of star crossed lovers.

_You're essentially an employee and I like you having to depend on me.  
You're kind of my protégé and one day you'll say you learned all you know from me._

It was left in her hands which way the fates would sway. He was the child-star far dejected from his Babylon and she brought him forth into a new age. He was hers. She knew it and she liked it. She was the meta-rockstar and he learned from her every whim just what life could mean. She twisted the ends of her hair between her fingers, eyes roaming between conscious and subconscious. Who she was and what she acted upon were two different animals and taming the beasts was her challenge.

_I know you depend on me like a young thing would to a guardian.  
I know you sexualize me like a young thing would and I think I like it._

She cared for him so much it scared him. She wanted him so much it made his body tingle in ways people only fantasized about. Her kisses set him ablaze. Her touches sent him into euphoria. He needed that ice bath at the moment but relished in the way his thoughts and the speed speedballed him into a catatonic state of unadulterated desire.

_This could be messy, but you don't seem to mind. Don't go telling everybody._

_And overlook this supposed crime._

What they possessed wasn't a bad thing and never would be. Numbers and people tried to make it ugly. The world made them second and third guess their decisions and actions. None of this would have been what it was, though, without the taboo and stipulation. _They_ expected the intensity and cried foul when either one would breech contracts and cross boundaries into territories that _they _couldn't handle. The protagonists could do nothing but cry and talk in whispered anecdotes.

_We'll fast forward to a few years later and no one knows except the both of us.  
And I have honored your request for silence._

The headlines said nothing because, in the eyes of everyone around them, they were the angsty musicians working out technical difficulties. There would be some time when she was of an age of used consent that word would spread and he'd smile devilishly knowing the secrets they'd already shared. It would be an old budding romance reminiscent of Ava and Howard and they'd give out spoons for everyone to eat with.

_What part of our history's reinvented and under rug swept?_

She wanted inside of his head. She wanted to poke through his inner musings and know every word he ever wanted to say to her. Things were different, so he said. Things were changing for the better, so she concluded. The past was the past but the undercurrent of predetermined melodramas. They pushed it to the side and made no mention of anything until the stage began to descend into the torrential anger storms.

_What part of your memory is selective and tends to forget?_

He wanted her to overlook and let pass everything wrong he may have ever done. She wasn't a person of forgetfulness but was a person of romantic forgiveness. Maybe, in time, she wouldn't recall any of his misdeeds and he could sleep easily at night knowing he was completely in the clear. He being free from dark transgressions was her being free to explore and live in what he had to offer.

_What with this distance it seems so obvious?_

Hours, weeks, and the lonely back roads passed and disappeared into the life from which they were ascending. It was a new era of remarkable truth.

_Just make sure you don't tell on me especially to members of your family._

He wondered who knew as he pushed his car to limits of acceleration. Did former flames and present impediments wait to pounce in the shadows of their plastered smiles and overt diversions? It was their pact, one she'd readily agreed upon.

_We best keep this to ourselves and not tell any members of our inner posse._

She stretched within the confines of a far away deliverance. She knew someone knew but didn't mention it. It was their pact, one he'd readily devised.

_I wish I could tell the world 'cause you're such a pretty thing when you're done up properly._

His arm draped lazily behind the headrest of her seat, the softness of her hair caressing his forearm in a way that started something could never be stopped. If perfection was personified, it would be envious of her and skillful means of loving honesty. She should be broadcasted to every place between heaven and hell and their union should be known by every man, woman, and child.

_I might want to marry you one day if you watch that weight and keep your firm body._

She lazily smiled to the omnipresent reminders of his touch; the way his bare chest felt against hers in the morning; the countless times she'd lie against his stomach and dreaming effortlessly. Being in his arms nullified every possibility of something else with someone else and she wanted to forever keep it that way.

_This could be messy and I don't seem to mind._

He questioned his mental standings of previous time when he denied himself the right to be with her. He couldn't picture himself anywhere but where he stood today. He enjoyed everything and quite possibly too damn much. If the world were to crash and burn, it didn't matter. He was exactly where he wanted to be when the fire display began.

_Don't go telling everybody and overlook this supposed crime._

The song ended on a softer whisper as he found a cut-off to turn into and head back into the reality they knew. She looked at him briefly, catching his gaze with a smile and a pink blush. He returned her sentiment, pulling her into a quick hug and kissing her forehead to seal the deal. It was a beautiful day and an even more beautiful time for washing ones hands clean.


	2. O, Lover

You people! (Ha...) Right, I had fun with what I wrote previously and, well, I'm feeling this vibe and am going to run with it.

This song is "O, Lover" by Jason Mraz. (I've shaved the lyrics a bit to aid in concision.)

Enjoy one of the hottest "chapters" someone may ever write. ;) (The upping of the rating to M to reflect such a thing.)

* * *

"_**O, Lover"**_

_What's the worst thing that could happen?  
We could change our minds._

They found themselves, rumbling, tumbling, fumbling among the now unmade patterns of his bed. Soft sheets bunching, duvet pooling on the floor, clothes far gone from the picture splayed beneath brilliant Saturday moonlight. Hands traveled and roamed, lips kissed and tasted. Undying intensity mussing hair and glistening on nude outlines. Blinded by a whirlwind of lust and desperation, turning back wasn't an option.

_That seems to be the hottest topic at this time.  
We are sitting around in the meditation, dragging, chasing, wonderin'.  
Who's holdin'? Who's got the will to draw the line?  
I know you've got something burning up inside.  
It's so unhealthy but so good for me!_

His fingers traced along the ivory curves of her body, murderous restraint keeping him from going full steam ahead. Every inch of him wanted to devour her. Every muscle in his body needed to feel her beneath him taking him into the darkness that brought to attention the cage-pacing animal within. Would she stop him if he proceeded into untried waters? He pondered stopping, knew he probably should end this before it progressed into something they would know and want for eternity. _Should..._

_Said if I didn't know, and if I didn't know, well if I didn't know that you loved me would you tell me?  
Well God only knows our contradictions to quitting is a hate to love relationship thing._

She drowned within his soft, tanned skin hot to the touch but taunting her to take things farther than she'd ever imagined plausible. She heard of his love but she would not be placated by mumblings alone. Reassurance was necessary and only delivered thru feeling. She wanted to feel his love and touch his love and go and come against his love. Her mind was far detached from any thought someone would call practical and only dreamed of the climactic resolve of such a scorching quandary. Nothing short of death would call a cease-fire to the rising temperature encapsulating her form.

_A fire under you is so fulfilling,  
I fear there's nothing more._

He let his hands reach to places he'd hallucinated on alone at night. She arched against him, legs parting and falling to the wayside. She melted into him, his mouth crushing her own, raging against the machine. He pulled away breathless, her hands flat against his chest, revived from the dizzying dance. He sat back, the underside of her creamy thighs pressed against the top of his own, her body shown in a sculpted Rodinesqe masterpiece.

_I'm giving, giving you the choke hold.  
My flirting with disaster is mighty loved._

She eyed him viciously, biting the underside of her lip to all the mind-numbing possibilities. She sprung on him, pushing him flat against the den of their dangerous liaison. Her knees dug into his waist. Her breathing came in ragged pants. Her red hair cascaded down and erased every notion that could be perceived as rational. She brought his hands to her shoulders, his thumbs brushing against her clavicles, her begging for him to feel her again... and again.

_Ugh you, you're so bold.  
My wanting to kiss you still is not enough.  
I'm getting over, all the comments.  
I'm feeling statements made by people are nonsense.  
I'm getting stronger, by the minute.  
And once I slip into position I'll swing you and turn you all around._

He groaned, loving the way her weight pinned him to the bed and begged him to take a step forward in their right direction. Arrogance loved knowing he could be her #1. He ran his hands from her shoulders down to her hips, grinning at how she trembled with every advance towards giving her all of him. By instinct, she ground against his stomach, her dripping heat sending him into the deep spirals that would make even the most seasoned psychonaut question the safety of such a drug. His mind went blank. He gripped tighter on her hips and tried to stifle her dizzying, circular movements. They locked eyes and she pushed her hair back, kissing him as she went for everything they always wanted to go for.

_You are the sweetest thing I've found since whenever.  
You're the only way my time is measured.  
You might be the silent type, but your appetizing louder now.  
It's crazy how you're killing me.  
You're killing me, but I like you're..._

He made sure he held her still on top of him and she was driving to angry madness with a time that stood motionless. He finally moved deliberately, a masterful stroke of the magicians wand in tune with the internal humming that whispered commands for him to up the ante – _faster, more, harder, a lot more, take me to the edge and let me fall. _She bent to his chin, growling against the way he went for her delicate flesh in tactless fury. Overpowering, leaning her to the bed, taking control as she abandoned last ditch efforts of composure, giving her the only thing never received, working on pleasing his alter of wanton opportunity. Nails up and down, digging deeper with every new found depth, muscles rippling underneath her expertly grabbing novice fingers. Begging, pleading, _more, _taking. Explosive, body rouging tides, name calling and god thanking, falling into a _Starry Night_ afterglow.

_Red top and matching bottoms.  
You know the ones, the ones you got on.  
Pull them over your skinny self but don't cover your tattoo._

He watched her walk around his lair, searching and discovering formerly lost pieces of her wardrobe. He enjoyed the feel of his sheets against his bare skin, the look of mock-embarrassment in her diverting eyes, the way she tucked her hair behind her ears and smiled when she bent to pick up a shoe from some far corner of the room. It was late, early if you wanted to get into technicalities, and she needed to head home. He didn't care for curfews and damn the rules. He wanted her back beside him and to bask in the humid atmosphere hanging on the curtains together. She looked to him, eyes glazed over in nothing but lust, when he patted the too-close for Platonism spot beside him. She rolled her eyes at the suggestion, joining him anyway.

_I like to look at you.  
I love that smell on you._

His arms came down over her half-dressed form, the scent of her against his soapy masculinity intoxicating. She still felt the tingles running along her nerves, her skin sensitive to the slightest breath that would reach her neck. She looked up to his face, taking in the softness that had been so animalistic only moments before. He bent and kissed her shoulder, her body rekindling the need that had began the entire evening. She held his cheek and kissed along his jaw. Hunger cried out in pride threatening to cause a rematch.

_And I got your special place against this face for tasting too._

He followed the trail her lips were taking and met them. He moved to be in front of her, her back being pushed against his headboard as he grabbed at the waistband of her jeans. She giggled against his unyielding efforts to take them off, his fumbling with belt buckles and zippers. He smirked as he grabbed the hems and gave them a jerk, pulling them and her downwards. He kissed along her stomach, her hip bone a feast to a hungry man. The ache was swelling again, wanting to have her relentlessly.

_And I like it natural.  
No need for chemicals foggin' up my senses.  
You're making me senseless.  
You're calling it sexual._

She playfully pushed him away from delving back into the movements and motions that would have her forget her own name. She had to fight the urge to give him his repeat performance that would cause the two to watch as dawn made its complete debut. She shook her head and bit her lip, moving to the other side of their consummation's resting place.

_And you're going to get yours, my lady.  
Might even be today.  
And it ain't no thing because I'll be rolling right along with you..._

He laughed at himself, at her coy denial, at the camisole underneath his pillow.

_You are the sweetest thing I've found since whenever.  
You're the only way my time is measured.  
You might be the silent type.  
But you're appetizing louder now.  
It's crazy how you're killing me._

They stared at each other for a while, feelings and understanding passing between the electrified time space continuum. It was good, a free flowing, unbroken chain of communication that no one could dare verbalize.

_And give us both a break.  
And to give us back a taste when the way things were before they made the laws.  
And to give us both a chance.  
But it won't be the last romance cause when the weekend starts the guilty party's on._

She finished the ritual of dressing, gathering the finishing pieces of her regalia. She stood in his doorway, finalizing their rights of passage.

_Weekend party's over._

He smiled at her knowingly.

_Don't stop, let's suppose, ah...  
I won't blow your cover._

She smiled at him to confirm the last order of business, leaving him to wait for the next time.

_Opportunistic lover._


	3. Ever the Same

WAIT... Say what! That's right, kids! Miss Rock has a new chapter for you! WOOT for days.

This song (Ever in Me, Rob Thomas) was a chance find. I was planning on doing a new chapter using a Matchbox 20 song anyway, but this one fit so much more. And after the little liaison of ch2, it was rough sailing for the creatives. Where does one go after something like that? But I have it now.

As a note, I seem to enjoy portraying Tommy as somewhat damaged. We really don't know too much about him from the show, but he seems so guarded that this persona (if you will) seems like it would fit. I also like portraying Jude as stronger than most ppl (even our beloved IS writers) seem to. I can tell she is. We all know she is. But, yes...

Enjoy, lovelies.

**

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Chapter 3 / Ever the Same**

_We were drawn from the weeds.  
We were brave like soldiers.  
Falling down under the pale moonlight._

Madame Fate, her skillful hand and masterful artistry weaved the two of them together. It wasn't chance. It wasn't coincidence. It wasn't even a karmic trail they'd have to travel. It was Fate, merciful and cruel, that brought the destiny of such differently alike people into the same living orb, delivering with her Tale of Two Cities a brilliant tapestry of love and contempt no one could contest.

_You were holding to me._

She pulled him into her state of being, living vicariously through him for the time. She loved him and traveled the corners of the earth to do so. She took his cross to bear upon her pure, unmarred back, dying to rid him of the demonic blackness that undermined his courteous thought.

_Like a someone broken and I couldn't tell you but I'm telling you now._

He clung to her waist, a shipwrecked sailor, unyielding in his quest for her all. He drowned in her tidal admiration, her waves of sanctification, her crests of forgiveness. He thanked her. He bowed to her and wished he could give her a thousand hand-written apologies for everything he'd done; did; may do. He wished it, but knew she wouldn't accept it. She would say he was better than a cliché and smile to him in deified jest before laughing away the thought.

_Just let me hold you while you're falling apart.  
Just let me hold you and we'll both fall down.  
Fall on me._

The more time they spent together, the more she knew how broken he really was. The crux of their relationship was the flip-flop of roles. Before, he was her knight in shining armor. Now, she was his Joan of Arc riding to the aid of her beloved.

_Tell me everything you want me to be.  
Forever with you; forever in me.  
Ever the same._

He would die living up to his concocted expectations that he knew she wanted. He would die with her in his soul, brightening its corners and erasing the chalk marks of failed equations. He would live to be her only one, reveling in their synonymous position.

_We would stand in the wind.  
We were free like water flowing down under the warmth of the sun.  
Now it's cold and we're scared and we've both been shaken._

The hidden shadows that loomed over their successful partnership didn't impede upon their happiness. They were free from within, but people knew. People stepped up and told them to stop. Threats of termination on all fronts; threats to lock away the only thing they knew as ok. They roamed in their secrecy and frolicked in the hushed whispers. It couldn't stop the beating.

_Hell, look at us, man.  
This doesn't need to be the end._

She was the one to settle him, convince him. She was the one that said it would be ok no matter if hell and half of Georgia knew they were what was speculated.

_Just let me hold you while you're falling apart.  
Just let me hold you so we both fall down._

She would cry out from the injustice and he would catch her crumbling. If Jericho were to be destroyed, they'd live under the rubble together

_Fall on me; tell me everything you want me to be.  
Forever with you; forever in me.  
Ever the same._

He forgot she was young, she didn't. She couldn't help but remember that she was "only whatever", but she worked relentlessly trying to rid everyone of the reminders. It didn't make them different in any of the ways people thought they should be.

_Call on me.  
I'll be there for you and you'll be there for me.  
Forever with you; forever in me.  
Ever the same._

Plotting the plans and planning the ploys, they met in their Yalta and laid down the movement for attack. They allied against the cordial axis, hands in pockets and defiance in eyes, taunting them. _Move us; try it; hit us with your best shots. _They charged full steam ahead, jousting styles equal. _You will never succeed. This is eternal._

_You may need me there to carry all your weight, but you're no burden I assure.  
You tide me over with a warmth I'll not forget but I can only give you love._

They were the crusaders for a fair victory, battle stars of the fight to help the other. The outside world was but a figment of their imaginations gone too far. They were the vulnerable hostages under the watchful captors. Different lives, same plight. Different dealings, same conclusion. Different reasons, same love.

_Ever the same._


End file.
